A Siren
Page 46
CHAPTER VII
A Prison Visit
The note which had been given to the Baron Manutoli begged him to comewith as little delay as possible to the Palazzo del Governo.
Adolfo Manutoli was a somewhat older man than the majority of those whohad formed the group which had been discussing the all-absorbing topicof the day at the Circolo; and he was Ludovico di Castelmare's mostintimate friend among the younger members of the society in which helived. It was a friendship strongly approved by the Marchese Lamberto,as might have been perceived by his selection of Manutoli to accompanyhim on the occasion of meeting La Lalli on her first arrival in Ravenna,as the reader may possibly remember. And the special ground of thisapproval was Manutoli's strong advocacy of the projected marriagebetween Ludovico and the Contessa Violante, and his consequentdisapproval and discouragement of his friend's friendship and admirationfor Paolina. He was not a man who would have counselled or desired hisfriend to behave badly or unworthily to Paolina or to any woman; for hewas a man of honour and a gentleman. But, short of any conduct whichcould be so characterized, he would have been very glad to see theMarchese quit of an entanglement which alone stood in the way, as heconceived, of his forming an alliance so desirable in every point ofview as the marriage with the great-niece of the Cardinal Legate.
"Can I be permitted to see the Marchese Ludovico, Signor Commissario? Hehas requested me to come to him," said the Baron, on arriving at thepolice-office.
"Certainly, Signor Barone. I myself sent his note to you. Though, on hisown statement of the very unfortunate circumstances connected with thisunhappy affair, I was compelled to detain him, still there is at presentno definite accusation against him which should justify me in preventinghim from having free communication with his friends. You shall be takento his room immediately. You will see, Signor Barone, that we haveendeavoured to make him as comfortable as the circumstances wouldallow."
"Manutoli," said Ludovico, after the first expressions of astonishmentand condolence had been spoken between the young men, "of course I knewI should see you here before long; and my note was to call you at once,instead of waiting to see you in the morning; because I want you to dosomething for me before you sleep this night--something that I don'twant to wait for till to-morrow morning."
"To be sure, my dear fellow, anything; I am ready for anything, if ittakes all night."
"Thanks. Well, now, look here: I am innocent of this deed--"
"S' intende; of course you are."
"S' intende, of course; that's just the worst of it. It is so much amatter of course that I should say I had not done it if I had, that mysaying so is of no use at all. Nevertheless, to you I must say that Ineither did it nor have I the slightest conception or suspicion who did.And you may guess that the fact itself is a horror and a grief to methat I shall never get over, putting this dreadful suspicion of my ownguilt out of the question. A horror and a grief, and a remorse, too; forif I had not moved away from her the tragedy could not have happened."
"I really do not see that you need blame yourself for--"
"I ought not to have left her side. Yet, God knows, it never entered myhead to dream of the possibility of any harm; all seemed so still, sopeaceful, so utterly quiet; yet, at that moment, the hand that did thedeed could not have been far off."
"Let the circumstances have been what they might," resumed Manutoli,after a moment's pause, "nobody would have dreamed of connecting youwith the deed had it not been for the strong motive which seems so clearand intelligible to every fool who sets his brains to work on thematter. I suppose it is true that you had been informed of your uncle'sintention to offer the poor girl marriage?"
"True that I had been told of it, for the first time, by herself duringour drive, poor girl."
"Ah--h--h! To think of such a man being guilty of such insane folly--andof all the misery that is likely to grow out of it. How on earth did sheever contrive to get such a fatal influence over him?"
"She schemed for it from her first arrival here--aimed avowedly toherself at nothing less than inducing the Marchese di Castelmare tomarry her--and succeeded. For all that, I'll tell you what,Adolfo--there was a great deal more good in that poor girl than youwould have thought."
"Bah! Good in her--Well, she's gone. She has had her reward, poor soul;and I pity her with all my heart. But as for the good in her--"
"There was good in her, and not a little. I tell you that if you or anyone else could have heard all that passed between us, I should hardly besuspected of having murdered her, poor girl."
"That is likely enough; but--"
"Do you know, Manutoli, I have a very strong idea that if this had nothappened, the marriage with the Marchese would never have come off?"
"You think that, between us all, we should have induced him to listen toreason?"
"I don't know about that; I was not thinking of that; I think thatBianca would have been induced to listen to reason; I think that thescheme would have come to nothing through her renunciation of it."
"When, according to your own account, she had been scheming all the timeshe has been here to bring it about?" said Manutoli, with archedeyebrows.
"Yes, even so. She had never known--how should she?--that such amarriage would turn me out on the world a beggar; she had never knownwhat sort and what degree of misery and ruin it would bring about to allparties."
"And you told her this?"
"Yes, in some degree I told her. As to the effect of such a marriage onmyself, I told her simply the entire truth."
"And you are disposed to think that the Diva--No, poor girl! I didn'tmean to speak sneeringly of her. She has paid for her fault a heavierpenalty than it deserved, any way. You are disposed to think, then, thatshe would have given up the prize of all her scheming--this marriage,which was to have given her everything in the world that she coulddesire, and more than she could have ever dreamed of attaining; shewould have voluntarily relinquished all this, you think, for your sake?"
"I'll tell you what it is, Manutoli. A man can never appreciate,--cannever fathom, the depth of woman's generosity till he has tried it."
"But, caro mio,--after all I don't want to be hard upon her, poor soul,God knows!--but to expect generosity on such a point from such awoman--"
"You may say what you will, Manutoli, I know what she was, poor girl, aswell as you do--better, a great deal; for, I tell you, that there was areal generosity in her nature. Look here," continued Ludovico; after apause of a minute or two, "I would not say it to anybody else than you,or to you either, except under circumstances that make one wish to statethe whole truth exactly as it was. It seems so coxcomblike,--so likewhat our friend Leandro would say; but I may say it to you. The fact is,I have a kind of idea that that poor Bianca was inclined to like me. Shecried when I told her--"
"Aha, j'y suis! Now I begin to be able to fathom the depth of a woman'sgenerosity. Given the fact of becoming Marchesa di Castelmare, the ladywas not disinclined to become so by catching the nephew instead of theuncle; and small blame to her."
"You do not do the poor woman justice, Manutoli."
"Any way, I do you justice; and I know you well enough, Ludovico mio, tounderstand that the generosity of such a girl as this poor Lalli was,taking that special form, must have been very touching to you."
"You forget, Manutoli, how little accessible I was to the flattery ofany such preference, with my whole heart full of a very differentperson."
"And I was just thinking, to tell you the truth, how the little scene inthe bagarino would have struck that other person if she could have seenLa Bianca giving you to understand, amid her tears, upon what terms shewould consent not to come between you and your natural inheritance."
"That other person did see us in the bagarino; and that brings me to themotive which led me to beg you to come to me this evening. Somehow orother, it has become known to these people here that Paolina went out ofthe Porta Nuova at a very early hour this morning. The fact is, that shesimply went
to see whether the scaffolding, which I had had prepared forher copying work there, was all right, and ready for her to begin hertask there; and all that can be proved, of course. But the same ideathat occurred to you just now, that Paolina might not have liked to seeme driving with La Bianca, has suggested itself to some otherwiseacre,--I beg your pardon, Manutoli,--and it seems that an absurdnotion--a notion the monstrous absurdity of which is a matter ofamazement to me--has been engendered that my poor Paolina may have beenthe perpetrator of the crime. The idea! If they only knew her! But theCommissary here has been cross-questioning me in a way that shows thatis the notion he has in his head. Whether they know that Paolina reallydid see us in the bagarino together--she did so from the window in theChurch of St. Apollinare--or whether they only know that she left thecity by that gate early in the morning, I can't tell; but it is sure tobe found out that she did really see us,--the more so, that she will sayso to the first person who asks her" the poor innocent darling. And whatI want you do is to see her, and prepare her, poor child, for thepossibility of being arrested, and make her understand that no harm canpossibly come to her. Try to save her from being frightened. She knowswell enough, just as well as I know myself, that I have not done thisthing. Try to make her understand that a little time only is necessaryfor the finding out of the real culprit; that it is sure to bediscovered, and that, as far as we are concerned, it is all sure to comeright."
"You wish me to go to her at once?"
"Yes, if you would be so kind. What I am anxious for is that you shouldsee her before any order for her arrest shall have been issued. But thatis not all. I want you to see Fortini also. I want you to ascertain fromhim how far it is possible or probable that any suspicion may rest onPaolina in consequence of the facts which are known; how far it islikely that any attempt may be made to set up a case against her. And Iwant you to tell him that it will be wholly and utterly vain to make anysuch attempt, that the result would only be entirely to cripple my owndefence. For you must understand once for all, and make him understandonce for all, that rather than allow her to be convicted of a deed ofwhich she is as innocent as you are, I would confess myself to be theguilty party. It shall not be, Manutoli, mark what I say, it shall notbe, that she shall be dragged to ruin and destruction by my misfortune,or imprudence, call it what you will. Of this, of course, you will sayno word to her. But I beg you to leave no shade of a doubt as to mysettled purpose in this matter on the mind of Signor Fortini. It is he,of course, who will have the duty of preparing and conducting mydefence; and it is essential that he should understand this rightly.Will you do this for me?"
"Of course I will--this or anything else that I can do for you. But Ican't undertake to say what Signor Giovacchino Fortini may think, orsay, or do in the matter, you know. I will take your message, and then,of course, you will see him yourself in the course of to-morrow morning.Of course, old fellow, I need not tell you that I am sure you did notmurder the girl; but it is altogether one of the most mysterious thingsI ever heard of. Nevertheless my notion is that we shall find out theculprit yet. And you may depend on it that two-thirds of the wholepopulation of the town will be moving heaven and earth to get some clueto the mystery for your sake."
"It seems to me, too, that such a deed cannot but be found out. I shouldbe more uneasy than I am, did I not console myself with thinking so. Nowgo to Paolina, there is a dear good fellow."
"One word more--shall I see the Marchese?"
"I think, perhaps, it is best not to do so. Of course Fortini has beenwith him, and told him everything. I almost thought that I should haveseen him here this evening; but, under the circumstances, I am betterpleased that he should stay away. Better leave him to Fortini."
"Good-night, then."
"Good-night. You will let me see you to-morrow?"
"I won't fail. Good-night."